Homegrown Louisiana Cooking

Last week I made my version of Shrimp Creole.  As with most recipes I change them to my liking.  I made plenty so we shared some with a couple we talk with during the mornings at one of the local restaurants.  They loved it.  He had some for lunch, dinner and lunch the next day.  The next thing I know he brought me a book to read, Justin Wilson's Homegrown Louisiana Cooking.  The book has 270 pages of what I would say is Louisiana and Justin Wilson history via the influence of food.  

Each chapter begins with a story about Louisiana.  Some are historic, some are about the influence of nature and why certain foods are used, but most chapters also mention the people of Louisiana and the importance of food in the culture.

There are many recipes that sound so good and the recipes are well explained in detail of the process.  Some recipes include pictures, but most don't.  Some of the ingredients I don't have access to, because it is wild game and we don't hunt.  We have friends who hunt, but not all the items he offers in recipe form.  Some items I don't eat.  I am sorry I don't eat oysters.  I have tried them, but I didn't like them.  I will try most everything once or twice, but if I don't like it I just don't eat it again.

I did notice Wilson cooks with wine, which I like the flavor in cooking, but we don't have any.  I guess I need to get some for cooking.  Some items he talks about we do not have available in our stores.

I really enjoyed the chapter about sauces and gravies.  He points out that many recipe assume you either know how to make a particular sauce or it is available at your local market.  I like making things from scratch, so when I saw his recipes for sauces I was happy.  Many of his sauces are similar to the way I make then, but they  may have an ingredient or two that I have not included in my recipe.

I also liked that he has recipes to use leftovers.  My husband and I will eat leftovers.  Sometimes cold, sometimes reheated, but most of the time I make something different from the leftovers.  Tonight was one of those nights.  I had left over country ribs that I started in the crock pot with onions and seasonings.  I saved all the juices and onions and the left over bar-b-que pork meat.  I sliced it back into the juice.  We had two pieces of rib steak that may have weighed 3/4 lb and last night we had one hamburger left over.  So this is what I did with the leftovers.

Leftover Surprise

Cut up leftover meats to bit size that you have saved all leftover juices and vegetables from the original cooking.
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of peas or vegetable of your choice
1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
 3/4 to 1 lb of spaghetti or noodles

Start by cooking the spaghetti or noodles according to package directions.  I used spaghetti, so it cooked in 8 minutes after adding it to boiling water.  While waiting for the water to boil I was cutting my meat and heating the juices and mushroom soup.  I added the spaghetti to the water and also the meat to the juices to warm.  Right before my 8 minutes was up I added the peas to the juice, soup and meat mixture.  I drained the spaghetti, added the sour cream to the meat mixture and I then combined the spaghetti and meat sauce.  This was a less then 15 minute meal to make, using leftovers, but if your juices and or gravy was good during the first meal the mixture is good enough to serve to company.  Maybe keeping the meat mixture and noodles separate with a salad on the side.  We each had two helpings and have enough left over for someone to have lunch tomorrow.

Who Want's Some Slop?

When I married 10 1/2 years ago I learn that my husband Bill came into the marriage with some new  ideas for meals.  One day he came to me and said "My sister Phyllis used to make Slop for dinner, can you make some for us?"  Number one, Slop in my mind was what people used to feed their pigs.  I asked him to tell me what were the ingredients.  He told me and I made some Slop.  It was good for a fast meal that was easy to make.  So here is my version of Slop.


Slop
1 to 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1 chopped onion
salt and pepper and/or other seasonings
2 cans cream corn

Brown the ground beef and cook out the water.  Remove the excess fat if needed.  Add the onions and cook until they are clear.  Add seasonings, stirring well.  Stir in the creamed corn. Serve.


We like to serve our Slop over home made Mashed potatoes.  A friend of ours made his, adding a bit of garlic to the Slop and served it over Hash Browns.  Others use a pasta as a base.  I have seen recipes that also add green peppers, tomatoes, and seasonings for certain regions or the world.  This could be made into a casserole by layering whatever you are serving the slop with and the slop.  Basically Slop can be made to your liking to serve immediately or make one day and serve the next.


Here are my pictures of the process.  I can say once Slop is stirred it isn't all that pretty,  but it tastes good.

See what others have done with Creamed Corn by going to Judy L's blog http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/23/whats-cooking-week-4-2013/

My Teacher, My Guide and My best Friend, My Mom

December 17, 2012 my dear Mother passed away. She died of natural causes, at the age of 87 years, 2 months and 21 days. Her death did not come as a surprise, because she and my Dad were very close and he passed away on September 3, 2012. I always said once they were older, "If one passes away the other will follow soon".


 My Mom, Margaret Matjasic Smith, was not only my Mother, but my teacher, my guide, and the best friend I have ever had. She showed by example how to be a good person. She allowed me to be at her side when she was cooking, cleaning, entertaining and sewing/crafting. My Mom was Croatian and knew how to make from scratch foods that most people, even back when I was a child, would buy at the grocery store. She taught me how to make noodles, strudel including the very thin dough that is stretched instead of rolled thin, and many types of bread products. We also cooked the majority of our meals from scratch. She knew how to take a tough piece of meat and made it tender. When we were poor she could stretch whatever we had in the house to feed four or more. When someone stopped by, expected or not, they would get a fresh cup of coffee or tea and something to eat. It may be a piece of her great homemade pie, I could not begin to tell you what kind, because she made many varieties, or a complete meal if it was that time of day.


 While many of my friends were getting up and trying to find something to eat before school, my mother made sure my brother and I was up, dressed in clean clothes and ate breakfast. We would watch out the kitchen window for our bus to cross the railroad tracks and then we would get our jackets on and wait for the bus to travel the half mile or so to our house on the edge of town. Some of my Dad's jobs required him to be at work very early in the morning, so Mom would get up and make him breakfast and usually a lunch to carry with him. We usually ate dinner as a family, late afternoon when Dad arrived home. If one of us had to do something that caused us to get home later than the usual dinner hour leftovers were kept warm for when we arrive. My Mother worked in the garden, helped with all the yard work, painted walls and trim, kept a clean house, washed clothes with a wringer washer and hung them out on the line in the backyard to dry. I love the smell of clothes dried on the clothes line in the middle of winter or on a windy day. Even after we got a dryer she would still hang some of the laundry outside. My Mom was my Dad's helper when he was building our house, repairing our cars, and even helped him study when he was trying to further his education. She also went fishing with us and attended games and other activities, just to morally support her family. My Mom would work the polls during elections and helped to make the major decisions of a growing household. On occassion my Mom worked outside of our home to help with the household budget, but for the most part she did things that would make the money my Dad was bringing home go further then expected. I was always a designer. My dolls had clothes made from scraps of the clothing my Mom would make for me. She first taught me how to sew by hand, and then at the suggestion of a neighbor Arta (sp), my Mom taught me how to use her pedal singer sewing machine, that I still own. She encouraged me to move from making doll clothes to making my own clothes. Before I moved away from home I was making clothes for everyone in the house, making drapes, reupholstering furniture. She also taught me to crochet, embroidery, weave and many other crafts. She helped with the troop when I was in Brownies and Girl Scouts. Throughout the year Mom was always making sure we had plenty of items canned or frozen. I remember helping pick and freeze strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, rhubarb and apples for pies. We would also make jams, jellies and butters. We would can peaches, pears, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, and even pork. Sometimes when we had a variety of vegetables she would also can soup.



 One day my Dad went to an auction. He bought live chickens, I don't know how many, but there were a lot of them. He was working nights at the time. When he got up in the morning he would kill a certain number of chickens and hang them up on the famous clothes line to drain the blood. Then before the morning was over Mom and I would pluck the chickens and freeze this selection of birds. The smell is something that will be with me forever. Sometimes Dad would go hunting or fishing. Mom knew how to cook whatever he brought in and it was always good.


 Mom's favorite flower was the rose. So we had roses all around house. Our front flowerbed had red and white climbers, yellow, red, white, pink and peace regular roses. The same was true in the back yard, but unless you came to visit, most would not know they were there. One of the favorite places at our house during summer evenings was the back yard. When we were young my brother and I had the standard swing set. Mom and Dad would sit in their chairs or at the picnic table while we played. After we out grew this type of swing our old swing frame was used for the long wooden swing many could sit on. It became one of the favorite places to visit with friends and relatives. Our house was always open for friends and family. Many stayed overnight, some moved in during times of need. My favorite guest for many years was my grandmother on my Dad's side. My Mom took care of her making sure she had a room of her own, food to eat clean clothes, etc just like us kids. Mom even took care of her wounds when she had operations and nursed her when she was sick. Granny had her own life and would go places to play Bingo usually with one of her Daughters. Sometimes she would go to stay with one of her other children. This may be for a week, a month or maybe longer, but her home base was our house until my parents decided to moved to KY.


 When I was in Junior High and High School, Mom and I would walk to the bus stop at least once a month on a Saturday morning. (Mom did not drive.) We would take the bus to downtown Hammond, IN to go shopping. Lots of time this shopping was window shopping, but sometime we would get something we could not buy in our little town. Usually our trip included a movie. I remember people commenting that when we were together we looked and acted more like sisters rather than mother and daughter. Once a year we made that special trip on the train to downtown Chicago, IL. This trip was always after the Christmas decorations were up in all the windows of the many department stores that used to be located there. That was such fun having a mother daughter day. Mom also often times went on the many field trips we had at school. We went to museums, zoos, special activities all over the area.


 Often in the spring and summer we would go on picnics. Mom would make special salads and desserts and Dad would cook the meat and sometimes vegetable. These picnics were sometimes just in the back yard, but sometimes at "far" away places like Lake Michigan or Kankakee River. One time we even went on a picnic when we still had snow on the ground. One of the special things about my Mom was her family. They mostly live in or near Cleveland, OH. This was always our big trip when I was young.



Her father Mathew came over from Europe as a young man. He married and had two children, my Uncle and my Mom. I never knew my Grandmother as she died while my mother still lived at home. My Grandfather married twice after that, so the only Grandmother I really knew was his last wife, Mary. She was also a special woman willing to share what she knew about cooking and sewing. Now my Grandfather is what I call today a character. He loved life and I think he taught my mother much as she was growing up. I know he taught her the love of roses. He also taught my Dad how to graph fruit trees and start roses from old plants.



 The sad part of my Mom's life was her dementia. Several years ago we notice that she was not herself. She spent more and more time in her chair. She would organize and reorganize her recipes, but could never find what she was looking for to make for dinner. I was doing more and more things that she used to do. She no longer liked to go on road trips, out to eat or even shopping. Keeping the check book and getting the bill paid was impossible. "Burnt offerings" became common meals when she was cooking. Even talking on the phone or visiting with people who would stop by was hard on her. The last time my Brother and family visited while she was still at home she said when they left "I don't know who those people were, but I am glad they are gone". How sad is that! I became the "lady downstairs!", but she knew my husband Bill. We had other times when we meet with friends or relatives and she had no idea who she was talking to all day. She used a walker for years due to knee problems, but looking back on the whole thing it may have been her dementia. One day while she was alone she put a plastic container that had a gelatin salad in it into a heated oven. Fortunately we caught all the times she did things like this before she caught the house on fire. Then she started falling. She would never hurt herself as she would roll when she fell. At first Dad could get her up, but then it would take Dad and someone else. Then it would take Bill and I until the day even Bill and I could not get her up. That was the day we had to call for professional help. They managed to get her up and took her to the hospital and that was the last day she was at home. She had a sever Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), but didn't have the normal signs of the infection. She spent over a week in the hospital and they transferred her to the nursing home for rehab. They planned to teach her how to walk again and to do things safely. She could not learn how to walk. Her brain didn't know left and right and her temper would get in the way of her trying. They stopped the rehab once she was evaluated and it was determined she had sever dementia and recommended that we allowed her to stay in the nursing home for her safety and ours. After long discussions and evaluations of the home situation we decided the best place for her was the nursing home. She was not there too long when she had a broken hip. She told me at the time that the pain was worse than giving birth. They had to so some test before they could give her pain medicine etc. After she had the hip replacement surgery she was no longer in pain and didn't remember the trip to the hospital. Sometimes she knew Dad and sometimes she didn't. Sometimes she knew me and sometimes she didn't. Most of the time she knew Bill, but towards the end she didn't. She had a reoccurring UTI, they would treat at the nursing home with antibiotics. Right before she died she had a bladder infection that put her into the hospital. Every time we visited her she didn't know we were there, but she was carrying on a conversation that we could not understand. She did go back to the nursing home and she was never awake when I went to visit her. Her last day was a good one. She got up, ate breakfast, talked to the aids and nurses, had her hair fixed at the in home beauty shop and passed away during a nap.


 Mom I love you and miss you,


 The "Lady down stairs" your Daughter Peggy

Carrot Salad

Judy L of Patchwork Times has issued a "challenge" to get us to share recipes based on using one item a week. This week's item was carrots. My favorite way to have carrots is to just microwave them in a bit of water until just barely cooked. That is just too plain for this challenge. So my recipe is one that I have not made for many years. It is a Carrot Salad.

This salad is similar to one made in a deli I worked in part time from 1978 to 1984. I never made the salad, but I loved it enough to learn approximately how it was made. This was a very good seller and it improves with age. I was lucky today to have all the ingredients. I didn't make a lot of it, because I am the only one who will eat it. The ingredients seem odd, but I like all of them individually and together. Carrot Salad 3 grated carrots 1/3 cup raisins, cooked mine were golden, but regular raisins were in the original 1/3 cup coconut Dressing 1/2 cup mayonaise 3/4 teaspoon white vinegar 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar 2 teaspoons western french dressing Just mix all ingredients together and chill for several hours before serving. To cook the raisins I put them in a small pan with water to cover. Bring the water to a boil and turn off the heat. Let set while preparing the carrots. Drain off the water and they are ready to use. I grated my carrots in the food processor after cleaning them.

Then I measured and mixed my dressing.

Place the carrots, coconut (mine was unsweetened, but I have used sweetened) and raisins.

Mix everything together and chill. I hope you enjoy!

My Dad and I (The Greatest Man I've Know)

I wrote this blog a couple of weeks ago as part of my healing.  My summer was spent dealing with my Dad's health issues working on my parents paper work to straighten out mistakes made by others.  We also had problems at the house with our water and are trying to get some remodeling done (mostly flooring and bathroom).  I wanted to include some pictures, but they are buried in all stuff we removed from the attic.  So here is my healing blog.

A little over 62 years ago I first met the greatest man of my life.  About a week ago I lost this man, but he will always have an influence on me until the day I also die and am with him again.  My Dad, Melvin Amos Smith, was always a person I could look up to in times of good and in times of bad.

I learned early in life that he loved his family and did everything he could to provide for us. He planted a large garden, which we traditionally did while listening to the Indianapolis 500 on the radio.  His interests in gardening went beyond providing vegetables for us.  He also grew grapes, rhubarb, strawberries and had several fruit trees.  Our house was surrounded by flower beds where he planted roses, moss roses, lily of the valley, passion flowers and lots of perennials that mostly provided green ground cover.  While he enjoyed all the plants and working with them he made sure his family also participated and learned all about gardening.

Harvesting was usually a family affair.  This sometimes was good and other times not so good.  I learned how to choose the ripe fruits and vegetables and leave the young items to mature.  I also learned to not step on the end of vines that may be crawling along the ground, because that would prevent the plant to continue growing and provide more fruit.  The one thing we did was to harvest the horseradish.  It wasn't so bad digging the horseradish, but then it had to be sorted, cleaned and ground.  Now I love horseradish, but that stuff is not easy to clean and grind when you just have a potato peeler, knife and a hand grinder.  We did this outside, because of the smell and the gasses get into your eyes.  It tasted so good once it was in the jar with a covering of white vinegar. 

Continuing the harvesting even our dog enjoyed the adventure.  She would eat the corn cobs, odd shaped cucumbers and any other item that happen to hit the grass at our feet. Occasionally the dog would even steel directly from the garden, but that never bothered my father.

I remember also learning how to shoot a gun, clean any game that was killed during a hunt and my favorite fish.  Fishing often times was a family outing, sometimes even camping near the river. 

When the summers were warm we often went swimming.  We did, when I was really young, have a small pool which my Dad would also get into.  I really remember our trips to Lake Michigan to swim and play in the sand.  One day we were jumping off a tire.  It seemed like a huge tire to me.  My Dad was holding it up with the help of someone else.  All the kids would take turns and either dive or jumped off the tire.   One time I remember diving off the tire, but kept turning in circles.  Maybe a wave caught me or something.  My Dad reached into the water, grabbed my arm and it seemed to me saved my life.  When we didn't have a tire to jump from my Dad allowed us to jump off his shoulders.

I learned many other things from my Dad.  Car care at our house was more of a do it yourself type work.  He always needed a gofer to get him the tools he needed or the oil, break shoe, spring etc.   

My Dad quit high school during WWII and enlisted in the Navy.  He never talked much about being in the Navy other then he worked in the laundry part of the time, met my Mom while in Washington, DC and served on the USS New Hanover.  I know he served in the Pacific due to seeing some pictures of him and his friends while on leave in Hawaii and a few comments he made about other islands his ship made port.  I remember his blue wool uniform that he wore when my Mom and he were married shortly after his discharge.  As I have been going through boxes I have found my Mom's wedding dress (which she used the underlining to make my Brother and I each a vest one Christmas), but have not found his uniform. 

While I was very young my parents, with the help of others, built the only house I really remember as a child.  It was done in stages, so I was able to learn much about building. When we first move into the house I think my brother and I shared a room, because there were only two bedrooms on the main floor.  Later on the upstairs was finished enough for my brother to move to his own room.  Then my Grandmother (my Dad's Mother) moved into my room and I moved into another room that was finished upstairs.

My father often times worked a full time job and picked up extra work doing plumbing, electrical or even building houses.  It was not unusual for him and his brother(s) to work on projects together to support their families.

When my father was offered a chance to work at Inland Steel he needed a High School Diploma.  So he took his GED test and passed on his first try.  Believe it or not someone was tuning the piano located in the same room.  He then decided to continue his education and we all took an electronic class via DeVry Institute home study program.  Back then the lecture was recorded on a record that was sent to him via mail.  They also shipped different kits to him he had to assemble.  Tests were also taken at home.  So we all sat around the kitchen table and listened to the records, did the homework and took the tests.  We also watched and sometime held things in place as Dad assembled the ohm meter and a few other items.  After that he took classes at Purdue University Calumet campus and eventually earned a degree.  This allowed him to advance in his job.  By him showing us that an education is important my Brother and I both graduated from college.  My Dad for the most part paid for both of our undergraduate education.  We both worked during the summer and vacations to supplement the costs.

My father came from a large family.  My grandparents had 4 boys and 6 girls.  They all went on to marry and also have children.  We usually tried to meet as a family twice a year.  One time was Christmas Eve at my Grandparents house where families came and went at will.  There was singing, tales told, food, games and lots of fun.  Then midsummer, usually around the time of my Grandmother's Birthday, we would have a family reunion.  It was held at the Lake County Fairgrounds.  Every family would bring food to share and games to play.  Baseball, horseshoes, Bunco as well as other games were enjoyed by all.  This was usually the time we would get to know the extended family.  Great Aunts, Great Uncles, second and third cousins and my Great Grandfather were always welcome at the Smith family reunion.

My Mother was from Cleveland, OH.  My father made sure we made a trip at least once a year and sometimes more to see my mother's family.  Usually we traveled at night across the top of IN and OH until we arrived at my Grandparent's house.  While there we would also visit my Mom's Brother and his family and sometimes we even made a trip to the other side of town to visit my Mom's Aunt.  When I was really young my Mom's Uncle Walter was also someone he made sure we saw while in the Cleveland area.  My father made sure we knew both sides of the family. 

My parents had great love for each other and family.  They did things together.  They usually included my Brother and me in various activities.  They supported our education endeavors by attending school activities.  They went to school plays to see friends of ours perform.  Football and basketball games my brother participated in as a player.  They visited each of us for special weekends when we were in college and allowed us to bring friends home even during Christmas vacation.

As we were growing up we had rules.  If we broke the rules we faced a punishment.  Those punishments changed as we grew older, but we knew we would be treated fairly and the rules were there for a reason.   We were never abused verbally or physically. 

I remember both my parents sitting me down and talking to me about becoming a woman.  When my grades were not the best we would sit down and talk about them and if I needed help I could turn to my parents for help as long as they understood the subject. They both cried when they dropped me off at college, but we all survived.  When I left home to pursue a career my parents helped me find an apartment.  Helped me find furniture to make due until I could buy my own furniture.  Then they helped me move several times.  When I really became very unhappy with my job, my parents asked me to move into their new house in KY.  I didn't realize back in 1984 I would still be living in that house, but it has been a good thing.  They encouraged me to pursue a new career and I opened a Quilt Shop.  My parents helped me take a building with a concrete that had a 2" slop to one side of the building to level wood flooring with carpeting.  We shopped together for furnishings and my initial supplies.  Thanks to the Small Business loan and the support of my parents the store opened and stayed open for about 18 years.

Shortly before I closed my shop Bill and I married.  My Dad surprised up both at the wedding when asked "Who gives this woman away?"  My Dad answered "My Wife and I will share her!"  Bill and I had already been asked to live with my parents, but it was a shock when he said in front of God, relatives and friends that I would need to be "shared" between my husband and parents. 

We all lived together until my mother had to move to a nursing home.  We could no longer take care of her because she was falling, was doing things that put all of us in danger (putting plastic in a 350 degree oven) and ended up with a severe infection that affected her abilities to walk.

Prior to my Mom moving to the nursing home my Dad learned he was diabetic and lost his big toe on his left foot.  Bill and I cared for him as much as we could at home, but infection was a big problem.  He ended up losing all his toes on his left foot over about a 17 week period of time.  Dad was determined and learned how to walk at first with a walker, then a cane then with nothing.  He even went back to gardening, helped with some remodeling and even did some canning of excess vegetables and cooking because I was working and Mom was mentally and physically declining.

Once Mom went to the hospital, then on to the nursing home he went to see her every day except when weather did not permit.  He stopped driving on his own so this meant that Bill and I (or one or the other) would take Dad into town.  He stayed with her for about 4 hours every day.  During this time he got to know many residence of the nursing home.  He also created friendships with many of the workers, but I don’t think he ever understood why Mom could not understand conversations or remember things he remembered so clearly.  This took its toll on all of us, but especially Dad.   Around Christmas of 2010 Dad got a cold.  He still insisted on going to see Mom.  The cold turned into pneumonia and he ended up in the hospital early in January.  He had such a hard time fighting off the infection and was bed ridden for nearly two weeks he ended up in the nursing home at first for rehab then permanently. His balance was bad and he was falling at first at home and then in the nursing home.

Things were going well in the nursing home until early this summer.  We were told he had an ulcer on his right foot.  I would take him to wound care every other week. The nursing home would make sure his wound was cleaned and dressed as directed.  They kept changing his antibiotics, but nothing seemed to help.  A surgeon was consulted and on August 14th his little toe on his right foot was removed.  Unfortunately the infection and his diabetes worked against Dad getting better.  He did go back to the nursing home a few days, then back to the hospital. It was discovered he had pneumonia, another type of lung problem and possible complications with a blood clot.  The hospital did do some tests, took x-rays and gave Dad different antibiotics.  Wound care came in and managed to get the wound healed enough so he just needed gauze wrap, but by this time Dad was too weak to make it much longer.  I insisted he be returned to the nursing home so he could see Mom and be with those who have known him for several years. 

Sometime around 10am on Labor Day, September 3, 2012 my Dad passed on to be with our Lord and those who passed before him.  We love you Dad and miss you so much.

Rest in Peace.

Melvin Amos Smith

12-22-1926 to 9-3-2012

A little update

Just thought I would let you know about a birthday giveaway celebration at http://catpatches.blogspot.com/  She is giving away some beautiful Ty Pennington fat quarters.  She is brave by even telling her age, but you must know spanish or irish to read the numbers.  So a sense of humor abounds with cats in hats, a cake on fire etc.

By the way, we still don't have running water, but making progress I think.  We decided it is a short in the pump or in the wires going to the pump.  We are still trying to get connected to the local water district.  Always something.

Happy Sunday and it is now time to watch the race from Talladega...Go Jr.  It is his race. 
Peggy

LIVING WITHOUT RUNNING WATER! Not Fun!

Living Without Running Water

I think it was back about April 5th our neighborhood was hit somewhere by lightening.  It hit so close the adapter or battery or more on my lap top is not functioning, I saw a blue flame like image come out of the electric outlet, our coffee pot stays on all the time unless it is unplugged etc, etc, etc.  The item that bothers us the most is our well pump was somehow affected.  Well being raised to do-it-yourself type person we first checked the things we can see. The pump is submerged about 100 ft into the ground.  So we opened the control box and the capacitor had exploded.  We really were not too happy about this, because we had just replaced the control box about 2 months prior due to age.  So I took the side of the controller that was damaged into town and had the part that was destroyed replaced.  We put things back together and everything was working fine.  Then on the following Sunday we again had no water.  After close examination the same part had a leak.  So we were without water the rest of that day, because the store with replacement parts was closed.  On Monday we went back to town and replace the capacitor and the relay.  We also this time increased the pressure in the holding tank.....I don't understand all of this, but I listen closely when the plumbers we know take about common problems with wells.  And again everything was put back together and it all worked, that is until last Saturday.  Again no water.  I checked the capacitor and it was still OK, but a little warm.  That should have been my first Clue to let it cool down.  I put it back in, the pump worked....for about 2 minutes \#$??@. So now we have accepted the fact this problem is beyond us and need to find someone else to work on the problem.

First I did some checking about cost of a new pump. The size we need would be at least $500.00.  That doesn't include the labor to pull the old pump.  If the tank is bad also I don't know how much that will be at this point.  Hopefully we will get a call soon to let us know someone is coming to our house to look at the problem.

On top of all of this we are trying to get a mortgage so we can do some updates to the house and make it so it can be sold in the future.  The loan requires us to be on a public water system if it is available.  We have one available and had contacted them prior to out water problem.  The wife stopped by the day we contacted them and said that we are not on the water system and she would talk to her husband when he got home that night.  We tried to explain to her that we were on the system prior to 1984 when our well was put in.  All the pipes are already in place, we just need to be connected to the system.  We even went as far as finding their turn on valve, but we can not find our pipe close to the connector due to it's depth and the hardness of the soil.  (By the way there has been at least two owners of the water system prior to the couple who own it now.  Records from the first owners were more in their head as far as where things are located.)  I guess the man never came home, so we are not connected to that system either.

A few things I have learned over the years is to always be prepared for the electric to go off.  Always have water for drinking and flushing the toilet and washing our bodies.  The things that have not been done is the dishes!!! We have been cooking and eating at home, but it is almost to the point that we are going to run out of plates and silverware.  Fortunately we have another well supplied kitchen and will need to start using things from that kitchen tonight.  I just hate to use the water we do have to wash the dishes.  We use disposable things when we can, but I like real plates, knives and forks. 

Yesterday we were invited to our "Adopted" families house for dinner, shower and clothes washing party.  It was so nice of them to allow us to so that at their house. 

I can say one thing about this experience.  I prefer to be without Running Water then No Electric.  We can survive by carrying in water, but no electric means no computer, TV, stove, lights and again NO RUNNING WATER!  

Surviving just fine with out water, but want it fixed!

Peggy